Pak CJ, filmmaker named among world's most influential people

Islamabad: Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy have been featured in Time magazine's latest list of the 100 most influential people.

Chinoy, who won an Oscar for her documentary 'Saving Face' on the survivors of acid attacks, is being hailed among Time's "people who inspire us, entertain us, challenge us, and change our world".

The people on the list were selected through an online poll and the write-up on Chinoy is by Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, a frequent traveller to Pakistan.

"Her film not only gave her subjects sympathy and understanding but, more important, gave them dignity. The victims in Saving Face are some of the strongest, most impressive women you will ever come across. She showed us their scars, and we saw their true beauty," Jolie wrote.

"...Giving voice to those who cannot be heard, Obaid-Chinoy has made over a dozen award-winning films in more than 10 countries. She celebrates the strength and resilience of those fighting against seemingly insurmountable odds – and winning.

I dare anyone to watch this film and not be moved to tears and inspired into action."

The second Pakistani to feature in the list is Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, and the write-up on him was done by cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan.

"Iftikhar Chaudhry has become the first head of Pakistan's Supreme Court to attempt to bring the powerful to justice. He has taken on the prime minister and the president in an effort to hold them to account."

"It's not just the politicians either. Chaudhry, 63, is also seeking to take Pakistan's intelligence agencies to task for their human rights abuses," wrote Khan.

"Still, the Supreme Court faces incredible odds. The venal political class is doing its best to thwart the judiciary.

"In recent weeks, we have seen Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani – who is accused of contempt of court for refusing to obey its order to write to Swiss authorities and ask them to reopen a corruption case against his ally, President Asif Ali Zardari – flaunting his defiance of the court.

"Will Chaudhry hold firm and find the Prime Minister guilty of contempt? A nation long deprived of justice now anxiously awaits it," he wrote.